Amendment_Two.docx

Amendment Two-AG-94TZ-S-15-0083 Fee Collections Services for the Red Rock Ranger District Questions and Answers from the Pre-quote meeting 9/23/15 Is there a breakdown on the types and numbers sold of the various passes? It is provided as below:

Records show:

2014 (year of the Slide Fire) AMF sales:

Daily: 81,881 Weekly: 4,990

Other vendor sales:

Daily: 29350 Weekly: 6851 Annual: 4012

AMF sales:

Daily: 55,867 Weekly: 7660

Other vendor sales:

Daily: 36,500 Weekly: 7941 Annual: 8209

2008-2010: Sales from all vendors and AFMs combined:

Can you explain revenue sharing as per the pricing schedule?

“The bid item ‘revenue sharing’ refers to the revenue made from the AFMs only, not the total revenue from the Red Rock Pass Fee Program. The FS has observed that the use of AFMs is on an upward trend as more visitors choose to go directly to the fee sites to purchase their pass from an AFM rather than stopping at a venue along the way to purchase a pass.

Amendment Two-AG-94TZ-S-15-0083 Fee Collections Services for the Red Rock Ranger District Currently the USFS sells all non AFM passes through third party vendors, with the largest volume sold at the Sedona Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center in Uptown Sedona, and the Red Rock Visitor Center (through the Natural History Association outlet) in the Village of Oak Creek. Passes are sold by the FS to these venders at a 10% discount. Other vendors include hotels, grocery stores, sporting goods stores, and gas stations for example. Vendors sell RR passes to visitors at face value.

For the past decade FS and their partners have encouraged visitors to purchase passes from vendors, not AMFs. This is because the revenue return to the Red Rock District is so much higher when a pass is sold through a vendor (90% return to District) than when a pass is sold via an AFM under the current contract. As the percent return to the District from purchases at AFMs comes closer to equal the return from sales from vendors, the FS and partners can shift message and encourage visitors to purchase from the AFMs. In addition, as cost of AFMs and other vendors becomes more equal, the FS will be motivated to place fee machines at Visitor Centers and allow direct sales, rather than visitors having to go into the Visitor Center and interact with a sales representative. As cost to Government is reduced, Forest Service may reduce the number of vendors substantially, as visitors can rely on purchasing a pass from an AFM located at each fee site. These potential changes will likely further increase use of and revenue from the AFMs.”

Can you explain the optional audible alarm line item?

Quoters must submit on all line items on the pricing schedule. It is a Forest Service option to choose to purchase the alarm option or not.

What are the Forest Service Fee Free Days?

The Forest Service reserves the option to allow for occasional public fee free days as required by Department of Agriculture. For example, in 2015 the fee free days are: Jan. 17-19; Feb. 14-16; May 23- 25; June 13; July 3-5; Sept. 5-7; Sept. 26; Oct. 10-12; Nov. 11. The number or occasion of Fee Free Days is subject to change. In addition there are two small fee sites within Oak Creek Canyon that are typically closed for winter low use months (Nov – March).

Further Questions received after the meeting:

Who will replace paper and clean the “cutting chaff” from the paper dispensers and do other “fingertip” maintenance on the AMF’s?

Amendment Two-AG-94TZ-S-15-0083 Fee Collections Services for the Red Rock Ranger District Answer: It will be a FS employee who will do this work. The FS will purchase the paper specified by the contractor, install the paper, replace paper as needed and maintain the paper cutter in a method specified by the contractor. There will be no requirement for any day-to-day presence of the contractor or contractor’s representative.

Do we understand correctly, that there will be no option for cash in the machines, it will be for credit card only?

Yes, the machines will be for the acceptance of credit card only

CHANGES TO SOLICITATION AG-94TZ-S-15-0083

On Page 18 of 65, Paragraph 3.6.1.1 Replacement of Existing Cabinets. The sentence, “Sixteen of the AFMs are to replace sixteen (16) existing pay stations” remains. The rest of the paragraph is deleted in its entirety.

Page 6 of 65, last paragraph, last sentence: This acquisition must be compliant with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards (requirements for consumer data protection in credit card processing); requirements of OMB Circular A-123 (“Management’s Responsibility for Internal Control”), Federal Information Systems Management Act (FISMA) IT Security, Americans Disabilities Act (ADA), and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requirements, and the 2014 Presidential Executive Order, which requires that federal agency payment card acceptance must include EMV chip and PIN capability to strengthen the security of retail payments.

Clarification for quoters: It will be the quoter’s responsibility to inform the Forest Service how they will achieve compliance. The Forest Service acknowledges that it is the responsibility of the contractor to collect fees in a secure manner through state of the art cardholder data security methods. The vendor/contractor is responsible for data security and for ensuring their operations are security compliant.

On page 13 of 65, delete the entire paragraph 3.1.6 starting with, “Manual entry of credit card number”.

END

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